Speak Out April 2017

Justice

THE CHILD SEXUAL OFFENCE EVIDENCE PILOT HAS ASSISTED MORE THAN 700 CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE. MORE THAN HALF OF THE WITNESS INTERMEDIARIES INVOLVED ARE FROM A SPEECH PATHOLOGY BACKGROUND. Witness intermediary pilot update

if counsel can rephrase their question. Witness intermediaries are bound by a deed of agreement with victims services and subject to stringent procedural guidance. Witness intermediaries come from four professional backgrounds (although there is legislative provision for a fifth – teachers) including; speech pathology, psychology, occupational therapy, and social work. Victims services provides monthly group mentoring sessions for witness intermediaries and professional compliance issues are overseen by a witness intermediary registration panel. This panel includes membership from each of the professional bodies aforementioned – Gail Mulcair, CEO, is the representative for Speech Pathology Australia. Almost half of the accredited witness intermediaries involved in the pilot are from a speech pathology background and transferring their skills from clinical speech pathology into a role that requires impartial communication facilitation in a justice setting has been a challenging but rewarding experience for those involved. To date the pilot has assisted over 700 children and young people with positive feedback received from the courts, police, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and families of the children involved. The pilot will be subject to a process evaluation to be conducted this year and an outcome evaluation due to be undertaken in 2019, both will be undertaken by the University of NSW in conjunction with the University of Sydney. For further information about the pilot please contact the specialist reforms team at srt@justice.nsw.gov.au Specialist Reforms, Victims Services NSW Department of Justice

IN 2015 THE NSW Government introduced a number of reforms in response to issues raised around child sexual abuse and the barriers and trauma children face when going through the criminal justice process. The main aims of these reforms were to improve the justice experience for child sexual offence victims and their families which would be achieved by introducing the following changes: • the involvement of children’s champions (also referred to as witness intermediaries) • pre-recording whole of evidence (including cross examination) • specialist district court judges • increased maximum penalties and standard non parole periods for offenders The development and involvement of witness intermediaries and the introduction of pre-recorded hearings are covered by the Criminal Procedure Amendment (Child Sexual Offence Evidence Pilot) Act 2015 (now Schedule 2). The Child Sexual Offence Evidence Pilot commenced on 31 March 2016 in Sydney and Newcastle and includes matters from Sydney (Downing Centre) District Court and Newcastle District Court as well as matters investigated by police at Bankstown, Chatswood, Kogarah and Newcastle Child Abuse Squads. Victims services within the Department of Justice is responsible for the implementation and administration of the pilot. More specifically, it is the specialist reforms team within victims services that engages a panel of witness intermediaries located in Sydney or Newcastle with expertise in communication issues as well as specialised training for their role at court. Witness intermediaries can become involved at both the police stage and the court stage. For the police interview, the specialist reforms team will receive a referral request from the Child Abuse Squad and the team will match the request with a suitably qualified witness intermediary who will then attend the CAS office, conduct an assessment of the child and make recommendations to the investigating officer on how best to communicate with the child during the interview. The witness intermediary then sits in on the interview with the child to ensure the suggestions are being adhered to. When an order is made by the court, a more thorough assessment of the child is necessary as a written report is required considering the child’s attention and listening skills, auditory comprehension, spoken expression, speech/sound intelligibility, reading and writing ability. Recommendations made in the report can include allowing regular breaks to ensure the child’s attention is maintained, ensuring questions are sequential (asking about what came first to what came last) or that questions are signposted, for example, “Now we are going to talk about the time…”, the avoidance of overly complex language or tagged questions, such as, “I put it to you that you weren’t at the location in question on the date specified previously, were you?” and the use of communication aids or anxiety reducing aids. The witness intermediary plays an active role in the court proceedings, seated next to the child during cross examination and can intervene if the recommendations agreed to are not followed by asking the judge

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April 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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